18 Charged in $200 million U.S. Credit Card Fraud Ring

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday
charged 18 people with fraud for allegedly creating and using
thousands of fake identities to ring up hundreds of millions of
dollars in credit card purchases.

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday
charged 18 people with fraud for allegedly creating and using
thousands of fake identities to ring up hundreds of millions of
dollars in credit card purchases.

The 18 people were the ringleaders of a massive credit card
fraud scheme that lasted nearly 10 years, according to a
criminal complaint.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was in the processing of
making arrests on Tuesday morning. The 18 people were located in
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

"The arrests today are the result of an investigation into a
sophisticated, organized group that operated internationally and
in the United States," said an FBI spokeswoman in New Jersey.

"This elaborate scheme involved the creation of thousands of
fraudulent identities and bank accounts," she added.

According to the criminal complaint filed in New Jersey,
profits from the scheme "supported a massive network of
co-conspirators," some located in Pakistan, India, Canada, the
United Arab Emirates, China, Romania and Japan.

The complaint does not include any names of credit card
companies defrauded in the scam.